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"If kids are playing board games or on BGG they aren't on my lawn. "
-
Pablito A (Get off my lawn)

My name is Oobydoob Scooby-dooby Banooby. I have the silliest name in the galaxy

Yes you do have to constantly adjust the tracks as you build units or buildings or caravans, etc. throughout the game. Just assign someone to do that as players take their turns - it's not as tedious as it sounds. The phase at the end is simply to determine who is the leader in each track for the next round...and yes, the previous turn leader breaks ties and determines who gets to be leader (even if they are not one of the tied players...they still decide who gets it).

You can move the markers on the leader tracks during the turn, or wait until the end to do all the accounting, but the leader position doesn't actually change until the "Claim Leadership" phase at the end of the turn.

We usually update the tracks constantly as people build, move, etc., because otherwise someone will forget - "Wait, did I build that marketplace this turn or last?" Plus it allows you to see that someone has just pulled ahead on a track and plan accordingly.

You can wait until the very end to update leadership, but the reason you generally want to do it as actions are taking place is just because it's easier.

Otherwise, you spend 3-5 minutes at the end recounting everything on the board. Which you could do (and should occasionally, because there's always going to be an action or two you miss), but it just takes longer overall.

Whoever the leader is when the round begins wins ties, no matter what (I guess if we read the rules as written, they can decide not to tie break themselves, but I can literally think of no reason why you would). Even if that's just the beginning of the game.

Having played this game a lot now, the design is very good. No matter the number of players and the configuration of the board, there's always a designated leader (or leader by default). I've never come across a question of "who starts the game as what leader?"

You can keep track as you go, but there's also no need to keep track of exactly how much of each unit type you built each turn because you can simply count up what's in your territory during the last phase and shout out your number to move your marker accordingly.